The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-08-25


Iu this western country, especially in
the smaller and newer places, where near
ly every man you meet is young, the sight
Of an old man, compelled to endure the
hardships and privstions Of . new couu-
try 10 almost pathetic in itself But
where the old man 10 poor, where he hes
known better days, and il compelled to
settle perhsps alone among strangers and
try to make himself . new home. L grows
doubly 90.
Six or seven years ago IN old man
named Van Ness started newspaper st
Goodwin, little Dakota town now al
most forgotten. struck the place the
same time be did on little excursion of
my own, and set type for him a. long -
he needed me.
The old man called his paper the Deuel.
County Palladium A young man had
. paper in the same place called the
Goodwin RustIer. The old man had not
the strength nor taste for gathering much
local news, but he wrote long and some
times able editorials. The Rustier man
could not have written an editorial Of
any kind If he had tried, but got lots Of
"personals" and items about new front
gates and the births of twin calves. Peo-
pie took the RmstLer and ignored and
made fun of the Palladium.
Sometimes the old man would speak
about 1t. "There is an editorial on our
common school SYSTEM" he would. say,
(which is better than one once pub
lished on the same subject in the Herki-
nser County Palladium while l was run
ming that paper when it had $500 circu-
lation. hate to praise my own work,
but know that article is good. But no
one will read it, or, if some one should.
he won't appreciate it. 1t is almost sixty
years since l learned my trade, and 1
| have published newspapers for nearly
fifty. 1t makes me feel discouraged to
think that after all these years my work
is not valued more highly. But am GO
ing to do the best l can, and may God
grant that | may die in a community
where will be better appreciated"
Poor old man l can see him vet a.
he sits at rough board table in a rough
er board Office, both of which he bad
made himself, working away on an edito-
rial on our foreign relations
As the winter came on he grew less
able to write or do other work. 1t was
too much for him to "roll" while /
"pulled " the old hand-press, so he would
sit and watch me and fold the papers
while l did both, walking around she
press each time But it was not very
hard even then-we only printed ninety
six papers.
After awhile some of his editorials
hardly read as clearly as they should L
frequently had to study over and rear
range involved sentences as stood at the
case. And few could make no head
or tail to at all and quietly threw away.
used to help him as much as possible,
pick up as much news as could on the
street and try to get q subscriber occa-
siOnally. Van Ness would never himself
ask man to take his paper or even to pay
him if he owed him. He hardly took in
. dollar from one weeks end to the other.
He had paid me but little for long time.
but was determined to see him through
the winter At least. He lived alone in
the Office and just managed to get
enough money from the advertisers to
buy food.
One week just before Christmas we
were behind hand with the work. had
had to wait for "copy." 1t was Friday
afternoon and was already growing dark
In the back part OF tho room where /
worked. l went to the hook and found q
long piece. 1t would make a column
and a baltimore than We wanted. /
spoke to Vapn Ness of it. but he was gaz-
ing out of the little window which faced
to the west and said nothing returned
to the case and began reading the article.
1t started as an editorial on Christmas
and why we observed it, but it soon ran
into strange personal matters, q sort Of
biography, long-ago boyish incidents, ref
erences to his mother again and again
and then to another, Dolly, think, and
to others, evidently his children, but il
said they were all gone, and at the end it
wandered back to his mother again and
his earliest childhood scenes, and the SEN
tences and words became tangled, only
could see the old man was q boy again
and that his mother was bending over
him and watching him at his childish
play as she did long years ago.
l laid down the manuscript and turned
to where the old man sat. He was lean
ing back in his chair gazing out of the
window. l stepped to his side; he just
raised his eyes but did not appear to
know me- Again he gaized out the win
dow at the red and golden clouds in the
west where the sun had just sunk out of
sight. It was a beautiful sight and
seemed as if spread out there that the
old man might gaze on it and see beauty
and peace as he passed away. "See the
clouds, how beautiful they are" he said,
after few minutes, "they seem just be-
yond the bend in the river-the grand
old Mohawk-and the trees in the woods
down beyond the pasture See them
grow brighter and more beautiful-but it
is cold here, very cold; let me. get up
and / will put some more wood on the
fireplace" He tried to rise, but sunk
back.
The old man had written his last edito-
riaL-DdkOta Bell
-" My darling, you do not bestow up
on me SO much affection as you did be-
fore we were married" observed q little